


Fallible

by melissa_42



Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-04-02
Updated: 2011-04-02
Packaged: 2017-10-19 04:19:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/196799
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/melissa_42/pseuds/melissa_42
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gokudera’s devotion to Tsuna was comical and kind of weird, but Yamamoto never thought of it as anything other than some kind of mafioso-honor thing. Then it rained, and Tsuna forgot his umbrella at home.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fallible

**Author's Note:**

  * For [rodicks @ LJ](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=rodicks+%40+LJ).



> Good old Wikipedia says, “sharing an umbrella as a couple in Japan is considered a romantic expression, and teens often draw an umbrella with their name and the name of their crush, the way one would in a heart.”

None of this would have happened if Gokudera weren’t from Italy. Well, more specifically, none of this would have happened if Gokudera had known more about Japanese culture before he decided to take the plunge and pledge himself to stay by the Tenth’s side forever and ever until death do us part...or something like that. Maybe  _that_  was the real culprit, but god help the person who implied that his fervent loyalty was a little over the top.

-

Sometimes Yamamoto felt like the script writer of his own life. None of this measly ‘he decides his own destiny’ business—no, he transformed foes into friends, crimes into jokes, and death into game over. It’s not like he didn’t understand the reality of things; he just found his reality more entertaining.

But as with every author, sometimes the characters in his story threw him for a loop. Sure, Gokudera’s devotion to Tsuna was comical and kind of weird, but Yamamoto never thought of it as anything other than some kind of mafioso-honor thing.

Then it rained, and Tsuna forgot his umbrella at home.

“Mom even asked if I had it when I left,” Tsuna fretted, gnawing his lower lip as he frowned at the downpour outside. “How could I have been so stupid?”

“I could write a dissertation on the subject,” Reborn snorted from his position on Yamamoto’s right shoulder.

Yamamoto thought it was kind of a low blow to call Tsuna stupid for forgetting his umbrella. Hell, the only reason Yamamoto had an umbrella with him was because he had forgotten it at school last time it rained in the morning, but who was he to contradict the little guy? He was about to offer his up to Tsuna—he’d never been one to mind a little water—but Gokudera beat him to it.

“Take mine, Tenth,” he said, thrusting it into Tsuna’s face. “You shouldn’t let your books get wet.”

“You really don’t have to,” Tsuna tried to protest, “I wouldn’t want you to get wet because of me,” but it was a lost cause.

Gokudera held open the door and beckoned to Tsuna. “If that’s all you’re worried about, then we can share.” He unfurled the umbrella outside. “Look, it’s big enough for two.”

Tsuna flushed, Reborn snickered quietly, and Yamamoto smiled a little wider to hide his clenching jaw.

“No, really, Gokudera. You don’t have to...” Tsuna fumbled for words under Gokudera’s earnest gaze until Yamamoto came to the rescue.

“Take mine,” he offered. “I like this kind of weather. Master of Rain, remember?” He said it just to piss Gokudera off in more ways than one.

Of course Gokudera rose to the bait. “ _Guardian_  of Rain, you fucktard,” he growled out, “and don’t go pawning your shitty umbrella off on the Tenth.”

Yamamoto wasn’t really listening to his tirade, mostly because the image of little love-umbrellas scribbled across the chalkboard with Tsuna’s and Gokudera’s names scrawled under them was dominating his attention. Maybe he really was as oblivious as everyone seemed to think, he mused. Maybe he’d been reading too much into Gokudera’s attitude around him, as if the boy’s barbed insults were like a verbal version of the spitwads kids shot at the person they liked. If they had been in elementary school, he and Gokudera would have chased each other around the schoolyard, and he would have stolen the briefest of kisses from Gokudera before being socked in the face for spreading cooties, and they would have laughed about it when they were a little more grown up and kissing wasn’t quite as gross and making out behind the utility shed seemed like a legitimate extracurricular activity. 

Maybe it was  _Tsuna_  Gokudera wanted to share all those goofy daydreams with.

They were finally saved by Haru, who scrambled through the door under Gokudera’s outstretched arm in a fit of smiles saying that Tsuna’s mom had asked her to bring over his umbrella. Then they all walked to Tsuna’s house for snacks, except Yamamoto, who went to the indoor batting cage to hit fast pitches until his arms went numb.

-

Tsuna failed a test. Gokudera was pissed.

Addendum: Tsuna  _and_ Yamamoto failed a test because Yamamoto kept interrupting every time Gokudera tried to explain the theorems. Gokudera had every right to be pissed off at Yamamoto. 

Gokudera’s tactic of choice? The silent treatment in tandem with fawning over Tsuna even more than usual.

Little did he know, it actually made things worse. Because every time he held open a door for Tsuna and slammed it in Yamamoto’s face, every time he bought extra melon buns for Tsuna and talked over Yamamoto at lunch, it just served to fuel Yamamoto’s new found obsession with Gokudera’s feelings for Tsuna.

Yamamoto felt bad for putting Tsuna in the middle of this because Tsuna was a good guy and didn’t deserve Yamamoto’s idiocy, but Yamamoto just couldn’t drop this. He hadn’t felt this jealous since he was a young boy who looked on in envy at the kids who had smiling mothers to pick them up from school, but even then it was different. That was something he had known wouldn’t change, but this? He couldn’t help but hope that he still had a shot. (Even if Gokudera probably hated him at the moment.)

So instead of just letting it go like a sane person, he did everything in his power to draw Gokudera’s attention away from Tsuna. He rambled on about inconsequential bullshit when Gokudera was trying to help Tsuna study, he insinuated himself between Gokudera and Tsuna whenever they are walking or talking or sitting, and he hung onto Gokudera with unparalleled zealousness because when Gokudera was growling and failing miserably at his pledge to ignore him, at least it meant that he was not thinking about Tsuna.

Poor Tsuna did his best to try to reconcile his friends, but with only a third of the story to go on, his results were mediocre at best. It took a little prodding (ass whooping) from Reborn before he finally took charge.

“Gokudera, stop ignoring Yamamoto. I’ve failed tests before, and it’s my own fault for not paying attention in classes. And Yamamoto, stop trying to provoke Gokudera. It’s not helping.”

They both apologized to Tsuna, but not to each other. Tsuna wouldn’t let it slide.

“I can tell there’s something more to this than just the test. Can’t you guys tell me? As my friends?”

Gokudera pushed Yamamoto’s arm off his shoulders for the third time in five minutes and huffed. “This bastard is up to something. He keeps trying to distract me from watching over you.” He glared suspiciously at Yamamoto. “Another family might have paid him off to make it easier to do a hit on you.”

“He’s not being paid off,” Tsuna explained, scrubbing his face in exasperation. “Yamamoto, tell him you're not being paid off.”

Yamamoto laughed. “Don’t worry, guys, no one can make me betray the Vongola. This is personal.”

“Fucking idiot, what the hell are you trying to pull—”

“I’m just jealous, that’s all.” Oh. Well, Yamamoto hadn’t meant to admit that, but whatever.

“Jealous of what?” Gokudera asked, baring his teeth. Tsuna looked like he was wondering the same thing.

“You like Tsuna, right? Like, you want to date him?”

It was like a bomb went off. Under the flurry of curses and swinging fists, Yamamoto managed to discern that his interpretation of Gokudera’s feelings  _might_  have been wrong.

“Is that a ‘no’?” he asked, dodging another punch.

“Of course it’s a ‘no’, you moron! My loyalty for the Tenth is purer than whatever the hell you're thinking!”

Tsuna looked like he wanted to melt into a puddle. Reborn looked like he had known what was going on all along.

Yamamoto figured he should just stick with his own re-written reality, after all, because more often than not, it ended up being true.

-

After the incident, it took another two weeks before Gokudera stopped bristling every time Yamamoto opened his mouth and everything went back to normal. 

It rained again a few weeks later. This time, Gokudera was the one to forget his umbrella, and Yamamoto was the one who offered that he could share his. Gokudera grudgingly accepted, muttering ‘what the hell’ at Yamamoto’s elated smile, and Tsuna, suddenly enlightened about the whole previous mix-up, decided to explain to his friend later what sharing an umbrella really meant in Japan.


End file.
